Predictors of Life Satisfaction Among Social Workers in Palestine

Background and purposes: In additional to military occupation, Palestinians face numerous chronic social problems including high rates of unemployment, poverty, food insecurity, and community violence (Easton & Safadi, 2017).  Social workers in the West Bank provide essential services to promote the well-being of impoverished, vulnerable, and marginalized families.  Retaining qualified, competent social workers in government agencies is essential, as is promoting their overall life satisfaction.  However, very few empirical studies have examined factors related to life satisfaction among this population. Based on previous empirical work and theoretical models, our investigations had two primary aims: 1) to examine the direct effect of job satisfaction on life satisfaction, and 2) to examine how job satisfaction may mediate the relations between work-related factors (e.g., organizational support, job stress, and job insecurity) and life satisfaction

Methods: The target population consisted of social workers employed by the Ministry of Social Affairs in the West Bank.  Data were collected from a large sample of public sector social workers (N=235) in the summer of 2016 through paper-based surveys.  The surveys contained approximately 125 items (including three open-ended, qualitative questions) on topics such as: life satisfaction, job satisfaction, mental distress, social support, exposure to violence, and more.  Using LISREL 8.8 software packages, path analysis technique was used to assess ways in which variables of interest influenced life satisfaction.  Modification indices were utilized to re-specify the models.  Goodness-of-fit measures were employed to assess overall model fit.  Finally, t-values were used to identify the parameters that were statistically significant.

Results: Fit statistics of the model estimation indicated a good fit to the data (  = 8.16,  5 df, p = .14776, RMSEA = .053, GFI = .986, and SRMR = .0442).  Results supported our hypotheses that: a) job satisfaction has a direct positive effect on life satisfaction (r = .40 ); b) organizational support has a direct positive effect on job satisfaction (r = .22); c) job security has a direct positive effect on job satisfaction (r = .12 ); and d) job stress was directly and negatively related to job satisfaction (r = -.37). 

Conclusion and implications: Results highlighted factors related to Palestinian social workers’ well-being and life satisfaction, which often can have an impact on quality of services provided to clients.  Life satisfaction can be promoted directly by increasing job satisfaction and indirectly through increasing job security and organizational support (and decreasing job stress).  These objectives may be achieved through policies such as a fair work contract (e.g. livable salary, benefits, and vacation), supervisor support, and opportunities for promotion and career advancement.  Future research is still needed to understand how managers and supervisors view the relationship between work and employees’ well-being. More research is also needed on the severe economic, political, and administrative obstacles that Palestinian organizations face in implementing policy changes in the context of military occupation, and the role of public policies in helping organizations to improve workers’ well-being.